Colleague taking the piss….

it’s no fun trying to work and be a mum at the same time believe me.

Yup. Feels nigh on impossible some days!!

I’m in this exact same position too OP with multiple colleagues. Have talked about it on MN threads and gotten some variant of:

Come on! Being a working mum is hard, why make things harder for her? She's trying to raise children and work.

MN hates a skiver unless it’s a mum, then everyone must pitch in and help her work far fewer hours for the same pay.

You need to raise with your manager but I’m also in public sector and I know chances are they won’t give a shit as long as the work’s done. You may have to just stop doing it, crap as that is.

Your boss won’t care about an equitable split of the workload between you all as long as the work is being done.

Have you heard of ‘quiet quitting’? This is what you need to do. Do your fair share of the workload and no more. Once the higher ups realise stuff isn’t done, they’ll have to investigate and they’ll pick up on who the weak link is. They’ll have to sort it out then.

I work from home and yes because of this I no longer have to use after school care for my daughter, but the hour and a half she’s home while I’m working is a nightmare and I’d much rather be in the office. Our role has moved to home based since covid so I don’t have the option.

I work evenings and weekends unpaid to catch up on anything I can’t do while she’s home, it’s no fun trying to work and be a mum at the same time believe me.

I think you should embrace the new normal of flexible working time yourself rather than bitterly monitor your colleague. Don’t pick up her slack, get YOUR workload done in your own time and be happy you work somewhere that is output focused rather than pedantic about bums in seats at a certain time.

I find it strange that you’re looking at her calendar to see she doesn’t book meetings before 10am… maybe just decide what would be an appropriate workday for you and do the same, as it’s clear that your workplace is flexible… embrace it!

@TiddleyWink

I think you have misunderstood the sentiment I was agreeing with.

There’s a very big gulf between this and skiving off, not working the hours you’re paid for or delivering the workload you’re employed to do and leaving your colleagues to pick up the slack.

Feel free to find your balance between work and life but skiving off from the work you’re paid to do because you’re too cool and special to work as many hours as you want the money for, is something else. It’s basically a form of fraud. If you want to work part time, find a part time job ffs. People can be so unbelievably entitled!

If you're working beyond your hours and without a break, and resenting it, it's a you problem, not a colleague problem.

Taking contracted breaks and leaving on time are healthy boundaries, not people swanning around wrapped up in themselves.

I get it, I martyr myself for work sometimes but that's on me. Looking around at colleagues and getting angry they're not doing the same is to just cause yourself pain.

I have colleagues who do school run, etc but the ones I know are certainly making up their hours. Some decide to take their lunch at pick up time so don’t book meetings for that time. If there’s a choice to book a meeting for whenever she’s available then that’s what she’ll do.
If she’s not making up her hours, then that’s up to your manager. It’s as simple as you all stop doing her work and they’ll notice.

I can't quite work out how you can be so sure her workload is so light. Do you hold a set number of cases or how does it work? Is there parts of her job she could be completing outside of normal work hours? I am individually responsible for my own caseload - is yours different that her absence directly impacts you?

I'm also trying to work out how OP can so conclusively state that the "50% increase" in her own workload is a direct consequence of this colleague's alleged slacking.

You've every right to be pissed off she's taking the piss report to your manager as you're all picking up her work

I work in the Public Sector, my teenage daughter has ASD, and starts a new college next week. Until she feels confident enough to get the bus, I’ll be doing drop off and pick up .. I won’t be in morning meetings until 9:30, and I’ll be out between 3:15 & 4:15 every day. I’ll still get all my hours done, and I’ve let my manager know.
i am confident that every one of my colleagues will be supportive, and nobody will question me

Do you work where l work?! I’m in your position for clarity and lm sick of it. Especially after working 9-7 today with no break (my contracted hours are 9-5 with a half hour break). Personally lm going to mention it in supervision in a general sense, about attendance and distribution of workload across the team. I am also going to be a lot boundaried about tasks and hours. I’m in the morning sickness phase of a much wanted and waited for IVF pregnancy, so lm super reluctant to burn myself out. Whilst others swan around doing what they want

Good luck with it all. I know it’s hard working with people who aren’t team players and are wrapped up in themselves

Sounds like a management problem. If the manager does nothing. Escalate it above them or HR. If there is none then If possible divide the work in a way that your work is not dependant on theirs and just let her struggle. Don't do her work.

Her reason for doing this is irrelevant. Management should manage it.

In our workplace (also public sector) my manager is concerned with output, not number of hours diligently sat at our desk. If we are producing the goods, she's happy. There's a lot of flexibility which I'm very grateful for. It actually makes me want to work harder. If every minute of my time was being watched and recorded I'd be less inclined to work hard as it would feel so claustrophobic!

I do this with my diary. We are also trusted to get on with our jobs and it would be noticed if I didn't keep up with my work. So I never have meetings before 10am so I can do the school run but I often reply to emails on my phone before then, and then I often write up my work in the evenings/weekends.

To my colleagues it may seem I roll up late and leave early but I do my hours. I can't quite work out how you can be so sure her workload is so light. Do you hold a set number of cases or how does it work? Is there parts of her job she could be completing outside of normal work hours? I am individually responsible for my own caseload - is yours different that her absence directly impacts you?

You can't be sure she doesn't have an arrangement with the line manager surely?

You and your colleagues work to rule, then it becomes your managers problem when the workload that your team is responsible for isn't getting completed.

Come on! Being a working mum is hard, why make things harder for her? She's trying to raise children and work.
I had the misfortune of trying to juggle it all while working with someone like you and in the end I decided to be a stay home mum with no stress. The pay wasn't worth it and they grow up so fast, leave the poor woman alone I'm sure she's doing her best. I bet she picks up on this too and still turns up to work.

Wow you are unhealthily concerned with someone else’s life. A lot of assumptions in there about what she’s doing. You could be so, so wrong. Which is exactly why it is not your business. You need to focus on your own workload and trying to be a better person. In here you come across as very judgmental and interfering.

You do you.

Either carry on as the martyr, or leave things undone for LM to pick up - those are your only 2 options.

People with a work/life balance and priorities in the right order have nothing to apologise for.

I hate this attitude that to work you must be chained to your desk for 8 hours a day. No distractions, no excuses, no exceptions. It's so archaic and cultivates a bad atmosphere.

Agreed.

Long before covid, many companies were moving to a more flexible approach to work.

Why is it a bad thing that someone be able to pick up their kids from school? Or book an appointment to see their dentist or GP when they can, instead of waiting weeks or months until they can get annual leave?

People who take the piss do so wherever they work. Before they would have sat at their desk on Facebook, called in sick, spent all their time on their phone or mattered away and pissed off to meeting that had nothing to do with them.

A young dog isn't left all day if you're in the house and can let them in the garden or give them a cuddle for a minute or two throughout the day.

I have a colleague who arrived late to the office the other day because she was taking her kids to school. I thought nothing of it. Another colleague had to deal with a gardener the other week, and someone once interrupted a quick meeting we were having so they could answer the door.

I hate this attitude that to work you must be chained to your desk for 8 hours a day. No distractions, no excuses, no exceptions. It's so archaic and cultivates a bad atmosphere.

If someone has a poor work ethic, their manager will know. I once worked with a woman who worked part time but would spend her office time shopping online for her groceries. It's different if you have to pick up the slack, but sometimes you have to focus on your own workload.

Public sector manager here. Your manager needs to deal with this. Everything you have described would be a disciplinary offence for us. But it is for managers to deal with. If you and your colleagues are concerned, then the line manager is the first stop, and if they do nothing, it's a grievance...

Sounds like she's done that 'quiet quitting' trend that everyone is talking about. In the old days we used to call it 'shirking'...

🙄

well that’s a leap…

why does the OP have to turn a blind eye in the improbable case the CF has some hard luck story?

must be a lot of skivvers on this thread. Why wouldn’t the OP be annoyed that someone isn’t pulling their weight? It’s a shitty way to treat colleagues.

im a single parent- wouldn’t dream of letting colleagues pick up the slack while I just fucked off to pick up my kids.

OP - you sound like an honest, hard working team player.